Chapter 28
Leona woke the next morning to her phone ringing. Her eyes were too blurry to see, so she hit talk. “Morning. Morning, right?”
Luke’s smooth laugh teased her awake. “Tired, dreamer?”
“Yeah. Why are you—oh yeah, you’re six hours ahead. Did you sleep?”
“I took a nap, both here and on the plane. I know you usually wake up around now.”
She yawned and reached for the bottle of water before answering. “Catching up on sleep since someone kept me up late the last two weeks.”
“You complaining?”
“Oh no, only pointing out I planned to sleep in.”
“Go back to sleep.”
“No! No, I’m fine.” She sat up and crossed her legs. She was still naked after their fun on the video call. Wasn’t the same, but in a way, it was perfect. “Sorry, how’s Italy?”
“Okay, I guess. I went to the restaurant, but spent most of dinner on my phone. Came to the hotel, talked to you, took a nap where I dreamed about you. Now we go meet the cast, and all that.”
“I shouldn’t keep you then.”
He laughed softly. “I have a little time. Wanted to hear your voice before I go. What are you doing today?”
“I have some errands to run, but I’ll have my phone on me. And no, I don’t expect constant updates or calls.”
“But you wouldn’t mind a text now and again.”
“Definitely won’t mind. And I’ll be able to answer, pretty quickly. First order is brushing my teeth, then a shower.”
He groaned. “There’s an image that will keep me smiling all day.”
“Let’s hope it’s all happy scenes if you’re starting today.”
“Oh, all I have to think about to be sad is the fact you won’t be in my arms at the end of the night.”
She dropped her head. “This is so fast, Luke. I want you, all of you, I do, but I can’t wrap my head around forever, and you make it sound like it’s a given.”
“Yeah, and you aren’t ready for that.”
“Are you?” she asked, her breath leaving in a rush.
“Honestly, I’d take it there if you weren’t so scared.”
“I’m sorry, I do have stuff to deal with here. I should have come back sooner to deal with it, but I wanted every second with you before I went back to reality.”
“What we have is reality,” he bit back.
“Shit, calm down. I know it is.” She paused a second to find the words to explain. “We’re a whirlwind I wasn’t expecting. It picked me up and threw me into a whole different life than I was expecting. We’re not a bad thing, but I need to settle my past while you’re busy working.”
“Sorry, makes me nervous when you act like it was all a fantasy.”
She rubbed a hand over her face. “It is, and in all the best possible ways. I don’t think there’s a more perfect man out there. When I say go back to reality, I mean what came before. I’m not even sure my parents are going to believe me when I mention I’m with you.” Her face scrunched. “And yeah, I’ll admit I’m a little worried about what they may say, because my niece loved your show when you were just a kid. And she watched it a lot when I was watching her.”
He sighed. “I can’t change that.”
“Don’t want you to. Look, my parents will be cool. They may tease me for robbing the cradle, but it won’t be in malice. I’ll deal. They won’t be the first to bring it up.”
“Readers?”
“Some of your fans, actually. And that’s fine too. I’m adapting. I’m all in, if you are.” Not that she could really go back on that.
God, she had to shut off notifications for all her social media at some point in the night because they wouldn’t stop. And she was slightly terrified of what happened while she slept. However, she could deal with that later.
“That is one problem with being a celebrity. And I wish I could change that.”
“Don’t do that, Luke. I’m not complaining. I’m not asking you to change anything. I roll with the flow. I always do. You have a good day of work, and I plan to get some necessary things done, and then work on this story.”
“No hints?” he murmured.
“Not yet, it’s too early.”
“You already told me it was Zack’s book. One little detail.” His interest was clearly piqued.
She dropped her head. “This is a new, unrelated story.”
“A new project?”
“Yeah, and you have inspired a couple things, but I don’t fully base anyone on a real person, ever.”
“Fair enough, but I hope I’ve only inspired good things.”
“Only good. Now go, otherwise I may never get off the phone.”
“Miss you, dreamer. And don’t forget, I love you.”
“Love you too, Luke.” She hung up and trudged to the bathroom. At least Mona wasn’t up. She wasn’t ready for questions.
* * * *
Luke stepped into the hall as Raven came out of her room. “Ready for that meeting?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
Her brow scrunched, and she got serious. “What’s the matter?”
“Feel like an ass. I jumped ahead and assumed she was ending things, or back to not believing it was real.”
“Why would you think that?”
“She said she was going back to reality.”
Raven laughed. “You read way too much into that, didn’t you?”
“Way, way, way too much. So yeah, I feel like a jerk.”
“You’re not. You know she was hesitant to believe it could be real. And she does have to deal with what came before you. Her time with you was great. Everything else, not so much right now.”
“I’ve never wanted to leave a project before now.”
“You want to ditch this movie?”
He shook his head. “No. Not really. But I wish I had more time before the shoot.”
“Would it really change much? She put off going back for you, because she wanted time with you.”
“Yeah, but she seemed freaked out when I said I was ready for commitment.”
“Don’t blame her. Relax. She’s there, she’s just not ready to admit it.”
“Yeah, she did put everything on hold for me.”
Nodding, she smiled. “Speaks volumes right there.”
They stepped into the elevator, and he laid his head against the wall. “Hopefully, I won’t be a total idiot on this movie.”
“You won’t be. You’ve dealt with heavy stuff while filming before.”
“Never missed anyone this bad, and I’ve barely been gone.”
“You’ll deal.” She nudged him. “And she’s really cool. It will be fine.”
He fucking hoped so.
The doors opened to the lobby. Ryan stood on the other side of the elevator with the coffee, ready to go. “Morning, lover boy.” He handed over the latte and started down the hall.
“You already get your coffee?”
“Yeah, spilled too, thanks to some douche with a camera,” Raven explained. “It’s why I was upstairs.”
“Sorry. They always go for you, too.”
She nodded, glancing over her shoulder. He would have thought in another country, she may not be so worried, but she was still on edge.
“Are we going far?”
Ryan chuckled. “You don’t remember?”
He huffed. “Uh, no, was distracted when we discussed all this.”
Raven nudged his shoulder. “Well, it’s a short drive. You got time to finish your coffee and focus.”
“Will do.”